Soft Ginger Cookies

As part of my bridal shower gift people gave me one of their favorite recipes! This is my Auntie Janet's cookie recipe. I made them bite sized but they are great as large cookies too! I would describe them as a soft ginger snap. They are easy to make ahead and travel easily.

These are perfect with a nice cup of tea!

Soft Ginger Cookies
makes 24

2 1/4 cup flour
2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup molasses
2 tbsp sugar

Preheat oven to 350F
Combine flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, and salt.
In large mixing bowl beat butter on low until softened. Gradually add sugar and beat until fluffy.
Add egg and molasses, beat well.
Stir dry ingredients into beaten mixture.
Shape into 1 1/2 inch balls.
Roll in the 2 tbsp sugar and place on a cookie sheet.
Bake about 10 minutes or until light brown and puffed.
Let stand for 2 minutes before transferring to a wire rack.

Gingerbread Cookies

Super easy! I made the dough the night before and refrigerated the dough overnight. Leave the butter and egg on the counter for 1-2 hours so it is at room temperature. The butter will cream better if it is on the warmer side. 

When cutting out the cookies keep the other portion of dough in the fridge. Instead of re-rolling the scraps right away, use the chilled dough and put the scraps into the fridge. Alternate until the dough is all used up. 

We made cats, mice, and men! The icing recipe is the one I used with the sugar cookies. This takes food coloring very easily and hardens quickly. I used the recipe without the almond extract and did not add any coloring. Once the icing is dry the cookies are able to be stacked. 

We are looking forward to making these around the holidays!

Gingerbread Cookies

Adapted from Wegmans Recipes

Makes 3-4 dozen (depends on cookie cutter size)

2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 large egg, room temperature
1/3 cup molasses
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 - 1/2 tsp ground cloves
3 cups all-purpose flour

Icing from Sugar Cookie recipe

In a stand mixer add butter, brown sugar, and salt to mixer bowl. Cream on medium speed until combined and lightened, scraping bowl and paddle as needed.

Add egg; mix to combine. Add molasses; mix to combine. Turn off mixer.

Sift together baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, ground cloves, and flour into separate bowl. Add dry ingredients to molasses mixture. Mix on low just until combined.

Separate dough in half and form each half into a disk. Wrap each in plastic wrap. Refrigerate at least 3 hours or overnight.

*****

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Using rolling pin, roll out one disk of dough on lightly floured surface to a circle about 1/4-inch thick.

Cut out cookies. Transfer to parchment paper-lined baking sheet, spacing about 1/2-inch apart.

Bake one sheet at a time on center rack of oven 12-14 min, or until cookies are firm but not dry. Cool for 2 min and remove from baking sheet.

*****

Chef Tip from Wegmans:

To control the thickness of any rolled-out cookie dough, use rubber rolling pin rings or roll it between two thin strips of wood or Plexiglas (1/4-inch thick). They will help ensure even thickness of the final product.

Incorporate some of the "scrap" dough into the next piece of dough to be rolled out. This way, you won't be left with only scrap dough when finished.

Turn the sheet pan around halfway through the baking process to ensure even baking of the final product.

Set the timer for about half the time recommended, especially with new recipes. This lets you fine-tune the baking time without fear of over-baking the cookies.

For a crispier cookie, bake additional 2-4 minutes. 

Vanilla Cheesecake with Graham Cracker Crust

After you go camping and you have leftover graham crackers...what to do?? So far I've made Martha Stewart's Key Lime Pies and now these yummy mini cheesecakes!

I've adapted this recipe from Tyler Florence's Ultimate Cheesecake recipe. Overall I halved the recipe. Instead of 1.5 eggs I used 2 eggs. Instead of 1 cup sour cream I used 1 cup of vanilla Greek yogurt. I omitted the lemon zest and vanilla extract. I reduced the sugar from 1/2 cup to 1/4 cup after reading a bunch of other recipes.

I didn't have any blueberries or fresh fruit to turn into a sauce to drizzle over the top so I put a little Strawberry Jam on mine.

These came out very soft unlike traditional cheesecakes. They freeze well. They are also delish out of the freezer and defrosted for about 10 minutes!

Vanilla Cheesecake with Graham Cracker Crust
makes 8 mini (6 oz ramekin) servings

Crust:

2 cups finely ground graham crackers

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 stick unsalted butter, melted

Filling:

1 (8oz) block, softened cream cheese

2 eggs

1/4 cup sugar

1 cup vanilla Greek yogurt

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

In a food processor pulse the graham crackers, cinnamon, and melted butter.

Spoon into the glass bowls and use another bowl to press the crackers in. Put it to the side.

Using an electric mixer or stand mixer, beat the cream cheese on low speed for 1 minute until smooth and free of any lumps. 

Add the eggs, 1 at a time, and continue to beat slowly until combined.

Gradually add sugar and beat until creamy, for 1 to 2 minutes.

Add vanilla yogurt, scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. 

Pour the filling into the crust-lined pan. 

Put the ramekins on the cookie sheet and then place in the oven. 

Place a large pan of water in the bottom rack of the oven. 

Bake for 30 minutes. The cheesecake should still jiggle (it will firm up after chilling). 

Crack the oven door and let the cheesecake sit for another 30 minutes. 

Chill in the refrigerator, loosely covered, for at least 4 hours. 

Apple Cinnamon French Toast

Looking for a quick dinner? Or breakfast? This french toast was so easy to create!

I used Trader Joe's Multigrain Country Bread which I don't really care for for sandwiches since it is a little on the drier side. BUT this was perfect for this eggy french toast! I'm not a fan of syrup so I wanted to make a fruit topping (last time I used raspberry jelly, delish!). There were apples waiting to be used to this would be perfect! The topping is based around an apple pie filling. You could also add apple pie spice or nutmeg if you wanted.

Next time I would use half the amount of yolks (ie 2 eggs, but separate one egg from the yolk) to see if it would change the texture while making it a little healthier.

Naked French Toast

Topped with Apples and Cinnamon

A lil dollop of jelly

French Toast

The general rule of thumb is 1 egg per slice of bread. For 6 eggs (6 slices of bread) I used about 1 tsp cinnamon and vanilla, 1/4 cup of water.

In bowl (or a 9x9 baking dish) scramble the eggs, cinnamon, vanilla, and a splash of water (or milk). Dip bread slices in egg batter and let the egg get a bit absorbed (about a minute). Heat frying pan over medium, cook until brown on one side (approx 3-5 minutes), then flip and cook the other side.

Apple Cinnamon Topping
Tops 6 slices of french toast

1/2 tbsp butter
1 tsp brown sugar, packed
1 tsp (ish) cinnamon
a splash of water (2 tbsp?)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1 medium apple, small dice, I didn't peel it

Heat skillet over medium. Melt butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Add the apple and walnuts and stir until coated. I wanted a little "sauce" so I added a splash of water. Cook until apples are starting to soften and a sauce is starting to form.

No Bake Peanut Butter Granola Bites

Here are some easy no bake bite sized snacks! I looked at many different recipes for no bake granola bars including the recipes from How Sweet Eats, Smashed Peas and Carrots, and GranolaNola in order to come up with a combination that I would enjoy.  

I love granola and granola bars. I don't really like protein bars. They have this funny after taste. So here are some relatively healthy snacks to munch on while filling you up.

Some ideas: you can change the nuts in the recipe, change the peanut butter to almond butter or walnut butter or soy nut butter, add in raisins or dates or dried apricots, and any other fixin's until you would enjoy! 

Using the stand mixer combines the ingredients better than stirring with a spoon. It was hard to roll into balls by hand because it was sticky but it wasn't sticky enough to use the cookie scoop so I pushed the mixture into a mini muffin tin and let it chill overnight.
 
I put the ingredients in Recipes.Sparkpeople Calculator to see what the approximate nutrition of each bite. The findings were 127 Calories, 8 g Fat, 1.6 g Sat fat, 11.2 g Carbohydrates, 4.5 g Protein

I had to add in a lot of peanut butter this time because I added in extra oats.  The nutrition info above is based off of 1 cup of peanut butter.

Next time I will use less oats, I adjusted the recipe below from 1 1/2 cups of oats (which I had used) to 1 cup below. I think adding more honey will help the ingredients stay together better as well. I used less than the recommended 1/4 cup of honey, next time I would use the full 1/4 cup. I also want to try to add in a couple tbsp of protein powder, perhaps vanilla flavored? To maintain the correct consistency with adding in the protein powder I would in less dry ingredients (maybe even less oats?) and gradually add in the peanut butter/nut butter until it looks about right.

Update (4/7/2013) 
2 cups toppings*
+ 1 cup oats
+ 3/4 cup PB (or other nut butter)
+ 1/4 c honey (plus an addition tbsp or two if the texture isn't right)
= approx 24 mini muffin bites and 3 reg muffin bites

*toppings = chopped nuts (almonds, cashews, walnuts, peanuts) / seeds (sunflower, chia, ground flax) / dried fruit (apricots, raisins, craisins, etc) / dark chocolate / etc

All the stuff minus the pb, honey, and vanilla

Fill the mini muffin tins and then pop in the fridge

Yum!!

No Bake Peanut Butter Granola Bites
Makes 24 bites
 
1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats

½ cup ground flaxseed

2 tablespoons chia seeds

¼ cup of sunflower seeds

¼ teaspoon cinnamon

¼ cup raisins

2 tablespoons chopped dark chocolate 

¼ teaspoon vanilla extract 

½ to 1 cup creamy peanut butter, melted and slightly cooled (microwave about 30 seconds) 

¼ cup honey

Combine all the ingredients. Push the mixture into mini muffin tins and then put the tray in the fridge. Keep in a air tight container in the fridge to maintain freshness.

Enjoy!  

Blueberry Pancakes

Looking for an easy, light, and fluffy pancake recipe that has standard ingredients? Look no further!I adapted it from Allrecipes.

The recipe made 4 1/2 pancakes, I suppose I make them bigger than "serving size"! The recipe says that it makes 8 servings.

Remember, when mixing the batter, there should be lumps. If you don't have lumps you have over mixed the batter which can cause it to be tough or chewy.

I substituted brown sugar for the white (just because). I used about 1 1/2 tbsp of melted butter instead of 3. I added in vanilla extract. I used bacon grease to oil the pan instead of butter or regular oil. I added blueberries once the pancake batter was poured on the skillet.

Click here for the apple cinnamon pancakes from this fall.

Small lumps!

Just made some bacon in the pan too

Bubbles just before flipping, note the edges
rounding out too

Splat!

Pancake Recipe
Makes approx 4 - 8 pancakes

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon white sugar (or brown)
1 1/4 cups milk
1 egg
3 tablespoons butter, melted
1 tsp vanilla
 
In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar. Make a well in the center and pour in the milk, egg, vanilla, and melted butter; mix until slightly lumpy.

Heat a lightly oiled frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake. This is the time to add any berries.

Once there are larger bubbles appearing (approx 2-4 minutes), flip the pancake and cook for another two minutes or until turning golden brown.

Serve hot!

Candied Walnuts #2

Sorry for the delay! I've been moving and haven't had internet. I'll be slowly posting the recipes from the holiays! =)

I tried a new candied nut recipe from AllRecipes! I used walnuts but you can use pecans or whatever nut you choose. Candy-ing nuts are an elegant salad topper or can be served with wine and cheese or as a snack.

This is the recipe I tried last time which uses nuts, cinnamon, sugar, and an egg white. Also a very fast recipe.

I think this took me 10 minutes to make.

I decided to do about 1 cup of walnuts per person for part of a holiday gift. I used the AllRecipe serving converter to create the measurements below.

Candied Walnuts
Ingredients
1/4 lb (2 cups) walnuts (whole or halves)
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp salt
1 tbsp and 1 1/2 tsp of milk
1/4 tsp vanilla

1. Toast walnuts in frying pan.
2. Meanwhile combine: sugar, cinnamon, salt, milk, and vanilla. Stir about 5 minutes (soft ball stage). This means when I stir the edges are starting to get thicker and less runny.
3. Add toasted walnuts into the sugar mix. Stir quickly to coat.
4. Spread out on parchment paper (or silpat mat). They cool quickly so work fast!
5. Let cool then package!

Epic Cinnamon Rolls

Girls Night! Anyone looking for some holiday brunch ideas?! Our theme this month was Breakfast for Dinner. We had Craisin/Raisin/Coconut Baked Oatmeal, a Spinach, Onion, and Gouda Quiche, Blueberry muffins, some Breakfast Sausage, Fresh Fruit, and Cinnamon Rolls.

Have you ever watched the Cinnabon folks magically create those delicious cinnamon rolls?? It is quite an art. I have never made cinnamon rolls from scratch before but I have been very intrigued and pinning many different recipes. This one caught my eye since the dough didn't have to rise or need random ingredients or yeast! Great for an impulse throw together recipe! It had the added benefit of letting me use the food processor. Though you could also use a stand mixer with a paddle attachment.

I couldn't believe how easy and tasty these cinnamon rolls were!! Because it was a new recipe it did take me longer, but you could whip these babies up in less than an hour! And 20 minutes of that time will be tapping your foot while smelling the cinnamon glory that awaits you! You can also pre-make them and leave them in the fridge to cook in the morning.

Two things that surprised me was that these were not overly sticky sweet (more cinnamon less sugar sweet) AND there really wasn't as much butter in them as I had expected. I thought that these rolls were similar to the Pillsbury pop out of a can ones, minus all the preservatives. 

The recipe below was adapted from Don't Forget Delicious: Fastest Cinnamon Rolls. I substituted in sour cream for the ricotta/cottage cheese (I'm kind of cheap...) and made my own buttermilk concoction of milk and white vinegar (yep, still cheap!). I didn't have cardamom or allspice so I used nutmeg in its place. Another option for buttermilk would be using plain yogurt. I think I might try that next time.

My dough was very sticky (probably from the sour cream/ricotta swap) so I had some trouble with it sticking to...my hands, the counter, the cutting board, the knife, my phone from when I tried to take a picture (limited pictures during the dough process), the recipe, my laptop, the stove, etc. Long story short, I would add more flour next time. However, working with dough can be a trial and error situation - you learn what dough consistency you are looking for, you also never know about humidity or heat which can also impact the dough textures. Also, when adding in flour, add it in a little at a time because the dough texture can change quickly.

Cream cheese frosting would also be good, but I made more of an icing glaze since I had these ingredients in the house. Again, these ingredients vary but go with whatever consistency you want - thicker add more sugar, thinner add more milk.

Future variations: adding in walnuts or pecans, using the dough base for fruity rolls or chocolate chips.

These are pretty heavy, one was quite filling. Recipe made 8, we ate 7, there were 6 of us.

Even though they may not have been the prettiest of cinnamon rolls (this time!), the recipe is a keeper and I would try it again for a brunch or family breakfast.

Sour cream, "buttermilk", sugar, melted butter, and vanilla

Add the rest of the ingredients

Dump onto floured surface, kneed, flour some more, roll it out

Apply butter with back of the spoon and then pile on the sugar/spice combo

Spatula that helped me roll

While they look like they are struggling, they smelled awesome - so at least they would be tasty!

They expanded a lot during baking!

Add icing and serve!

Update 1/12/2014: I tried to make the Ina Garten cinnamon rolls but the yeast didn't rise properly and the rolls were tough and dry. Honestly, not worth trying other recipes when this one works so well!!

Update 2/1/2014: I want to make these without planning and I never have sour cream, ricotta, or Greek yogurt in the fridge (both good substitutes for sour cream). I found a baking substitute and it actually worked! I did a rough estimate to make the substitute from 1 cup to the actually requirement of 3/4 cups. 1 cup sour cream = 3/4 cup sour milk (milk & vinegar) + 1/3 cup butter. These are extra moist and should bake for closer to 30-35 minutes and cover with tinfoil towards the end to keep the rolls from getting too brown. 

updated picture with our fancy camera!

Cinnamon Rolls 
Makes 8 rolls

Dough

• 3/4 cup sour cream : see above for substitute
• 1/3 cup "buttermilk" : milk + 1/3 tbsp white vinegar = 1/3 cup; let sit 5 minutes after combining before adding into mixture
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 stick unsalted butter, melted
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• approx 2 cups all purpose flour (up to you to determine stickiness)
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp baking soda

Filling

• Just under 2 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
• 2/3 cup packed brown sugar (dark or light)
• 1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

Icing

• 3/4 cup powdered sugar, or to taste
• 3 (ish) tablespoons milk (or until desired consistency, I used light cream)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions

Heat the oven to 400°F. Grease the sides and bottom of a 8 or 9″ baking pan with cooking spray. 

Combine the sour cream, "buttermilk", sugar, melted butter, and vanilla in food processor and process until smooth, about 10 seconds. Add the flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda and pulse in short bursts just until the dough clumps together (approx 5-8 pulses). 

The dough will be soft and moist. If it is sticking to your hands, add a little more flour.

Dump the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead it with floured hands 4 or 5 times until smooth. With a rolling pin, roll the dough into a 12×15-inch rectangle (approx same size as plastic cutting board size, err on the side of smaller rectangle). I had lots of holes as I rolled the dough out too thin, but it also could have been because my dough was sticky.

Brush the dough with the melted butter, (drizzled the butter and then spread with back of a spoon) leaving a 1/2-inch border unbuttered around the edges. In a medium bowl, combine brown sugar and spices. Sprinkle the mixture over the buttered area of the dough and press gently into the surface. 

Starting at a long edge, roll up the dough. If you are having trouble with the dough sticking, I used a floured narrow spatula to scoop up the edges to roll that way.

With a sharp knife (floured if dough is still too sticky), cut the roll into equal pieces. Set the pieces, cut side up, in the prepared pan; they should fill the pan and touch slightly, but don’t worry about gaps. 

Bake until golden brown and firm to the touch, 20 - 25 minutes. Let it cool for 5 minutes.

While baking is in process... In a small bowl combine powdered sugar, milk and vanilla to make a smooth glaze. Add milk as needed to achieve desired consistency. Spread onto warm rolls. Let stand 10 minutes and serve.

I dolloped the icing on the rolls and served right out of baking dish.

Candied Pecans

N. bought me a silpat mat!! What is a silpat mat, you ask? Basically its a reusable nonstick baking mat that can be used instead of parchment paper. Isn't he the best? I had to try it out and make him something. Since it was late and I was tired, I wanted to go with an easy recipe that didn't require needing to chill dough (shortbread was the other choice).

Seriously, this recipe is pretty much fool proof. It will be tasty no matter what. I wanted to half the recipe, but only successfully halved some of the ingredients... still came out good though!

I made this for the holidays last year, your house will smell amazing! If you wanted to half this recipe, it is easy. If you wanted to double the recipe, it is easy.

The original recipe calls for pecans, which are so good! However, I didn't have enough, so I used 1 cup of walnuts and 1 cup of pecans.

Whip an egg white and tbs of water until its frothy. Didn't half it, just used the whole thing.

Add nuts and coat in the egg white.

Add cinnamon (not halved), sugar (halved), and salt (halved).

Stir it all up. Because I didn't use all the nuts my mixture had some liquid in bottom of the bowl.

Put on a grease/parchment paper/silpat covered cookie sheet and bake at 250 for an hour. Stir them on the cookie sheet every 15 minutes.

(Note the pretty new mat!)

I'm impatient and I was tired, I took them out after 45 minutes.

I let them cool for a little bit and then put them into containers to store at room temperature.

These are tasty as a snack but also would be good on a salad!

Candied Pecans
Makes 1 lb

1 egg white
1 tbs water
1 lb pecans
1 cup white sugar
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 250F. Prepare 1 baking sheet.
2. Whip 1 egg white and water until frothy. In separate bowl combine sugar, salt, and cinnamon.
3. Add nuts to egg white. Add dry ingredients. Stir until well coated.
4. Spread out on baking sheet
5. Bake for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes.

Pumpkin Muffins

I have been wanting to make these pumpkin muffins for a while. I found the recipe here. I was planning on following the recipe very closely, but, per usual I made some changes.

warm and melt-y with vanilla ice cream

The recipe calls for a heaping cup of pumpkin puree. However, this leaves about an inch of the puree in the can... so I decided to use the entire can. This means, 1) its a very moist muffin, 2) it made more muffins, and 3) when it was warm out of the oven with ice cream on top... it tasted like yummy, yummy, bread pudding. If you wanted to maintain the regular muffin consistency add an extra tablespoon of flour.

Also, I've never used evaporated milk. For those of you who are conversion challenged like I am, 1/2 cup of the milk is less than the 5 fl oz can. Unless you have other recipes that you are planning on making with the milk, the smallest can size will be sufficient.

I used regular raisins...because that was what I had in my baking cabinet.

Next time I would halve the "topping" that is sprinkled over the top, it just made a ton of the mixture.

The original recipe called for cream cheese frosting. I made these for part of my breakfast over the course of a week so frosting wouldn't be ideal. However, if I was making these for a brunch and people were going to be eating them all in the same day, I wouldn't hesitate to add the frosting. 

First I combined all dry ingredients.

Next I combined the wet ingredients in a separate bowl. Then added the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Add in raisins.

Fill muffin tins. These didn't rise as much, I'm guessing its because of the extra puree.

Voila!

 

Pumpkin Muffins

Makes approx 15 muffins

Muffin Ingredients:

1 cup All-purpose Flour

1/2 cup Sugar

2 teaspoons Baking Powder

1-1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon Ground Ginger

1/2 teaspoon Nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon Salt

4 Tablespoons Butter, cut into pieces

1 cup (heaping) Pumpkin Puree

1/2 cup Evaporated Mil

1 whole Egg

1-1/2 teaspoon Vanilla

1/2 cup Golden Raisins

Topping ingredients:

2 Tablespoons Sugar

1 teaspoon Cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon Nutmeg

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Generously grease or line muffin tins.

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and salt, pulse in food processor.

Cut in butter food processor until it is fully incorporated.

In a separate bowl, mix together pumpkin, evaporated milk, egg, and vanilla. Pour pumpkin mixture into the flour mixture. Add raisins. Fold until mixture is just combined.

Pour into muffin tins. ¾ full. Sprinkle topping onto each muffin.

Bake for 25 minutes. Let cool.

Happy Eating!